Phonics Screening Check 2027: a plain guide

Every Year 1 child in England reads 40 words aloud to a teacher in June. Here is what happens, what changed in 2026, and how to practise at home or in class without turning it into a test.

Key dates for 2027

What the check looks like

Real words and alien words

The child reads from a booklet, one word at a time, with their teacher. Half the words are real, like shop or train. The other half are pseudo-words, made-up words such as vap or zort, shown next to a picture of an alien so the child knows the word is a name and not something they should recognise.

Alien words are there for a reason. A child can only read a word they have never seen by using phonics: turning each letter or group of letters into a sound and blending the sounds together. Real words can sometimes be guessed or remembered by sight.

Two sections, easier then harder

Section 1 uses simpler words: single letters and common pairs like sh and ch, often in three or four letter words. Section 2 brings in longer words, more letter combinations like ai, ow and a-e (as in "cake"), and words of two syllables.

How it is marked, and accents

Each word scores 1 or 0, so the total is out of 40. The teacher marks what the child says. Any accent is fine, and for alien words more than one reasonable pronunciation is accepted.

The pass mark: why 31 in 2026?

The pass mark is called the threshold. It is not fixed in advance: the Department for Education sets it after each check, so that the standard stays the same even though the words change every year. From 2012 to 2025 it was always 32. In 2026 it was 31, the first change since the check began. A lower threshold does not mean the standard dropped: it is set so the standard stays level when one year's words are a little harder than another's.

2026 figures are provisional, published 8 October 2026.

If a child does not meet the standard

There is no "fail". A child who scores below the threshold gets extra phonics support in Year 2 and takes the check again the next June. Some children are not entered at all, for example a child who has just arrived and does not yet know English letters and sounds. The head teacher decides, and must tell parents.

For international schools and EAL learners

• Schools outside England cannot enter children formally, but every past check (booklet, answer sheet and scoring guide) is free to download from GOV.UK. Many international schools use them as an end-of-year benchmark.
• Accent does not count against a child, which matters for children learning English as a second language.
• Decoding is only half of reading. A child who can read every alien word may still not understand English sentences. That next step is what our free Level 1 programme is for.

How to practise without stress

1. Little and often. Five minutes a day beats an hour on Sunday.
2. Mix real and alien words. Say "this is a name for a monster" so children stop looking for meaning.
3. Sound out loud, then blend. "ch - o - p... chop." Let them hear themselves do it.
4. Praise the method, not the score. "You sounded out every letter" builds the habit the check rewards.
5. Read real books too. Decodable books from school, matched to the sounds your child knows, are the best daily practice.

Free practice: 20 alien words

We wrote these ourselves to match the style of the check. They are not from a real check. Show each word, let your child read it, and tap whether they got it. There is no pass or fail here, just practice.

Frequently asked questions

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